Beatlemania, glam rock and Britpop - just some of the music names to have appeared in Bournemouth and Poole

Some of the biggest names in popular music have appeared on stage in Bournemouth and Poole.

In an article online at bournemouthecho.co.uk, we listed some of the most notable gigs the towns had seen – and asked for your suggestions of more.

Here are some of the gigs which loom largest in people’s memories:

• The Beatles – August 19-24 1963, Gaumont Cinema, Bournemouth. The Fab Four’s six-night residency at the Gaumont – with two shows each night – coincided with the release of the number one hit that defined Beatlemania, She Loves You. They were back in Bournemouth at the Winter Gardens on November 16 and at the Gaumont again on August 2 and October 30 1964 – making the Bournemouth the town which hosted most Beatles gigs apart from Liverpool and London. Paul McCartney was back at the Winter Gardens with Wings on May 15 1973.

• The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley, Little Richard and the Rolling Stones, October 26, 1963, Gaumont. A ‘pop package’ show consisting of eight acts including some of the US’s biggest names – plus a rising London band called the Rolling Stones. The Stones would play the Winter Gardens on February 22, 1964.

• Jimi Hendrix Experience, November 15, 1967, Winter Gardens. The legend topped a bill including the Move and The Pink Floyd. Jill M, commenting at bournemouthecho.co.uk, recalled: “I was lucky enough to be invited backstage by Noel Redding, of the Jimi Hendrix experience, and met the great man himself. Jimi was a real gentleman, polite and friendly. I got into trouble with my parents because I missed my lift home, but I was the heroine at school for weeks afterwards.”

• Pink Floyd, January 22 1972, Winter Gardens. The band, who had supported Hendrix in 1967, were back to give the world premiere performance of their entire new album – the seminal Dark Side Of The Moon.
• Queen, November 13, 1974, Winter Gardens. En route to becoming one of the biggest-selling acts of the decade, Queen brought their Sheer Heart Attack tour to the town, performing songs such as Killer Queen and Seven Seas of Rhye.
• David Bowie, May 25 1973, Winter Gardens. The fourth and final appearance in Bournemouth by Bowie as Ziggy Stardust attracted even more attention than usual, with the BBC’s Nationwide programme filming the star backstage and at his hotel.He had already played the town’s Chelsea Village on May 14 and 25, 1972, and the Royal Ballroom, Boscombe, on August 31 1972.

• Kate Bush, April 2, 1979, Poole Arts Centre. The singer – who recently announced her return to live performing after a 35-year break – played a warm-up concert at Poole for her one and only UK tour. Her number one hit Wuthering Heights was the encore number. But the event was marred by a tragedy, when lighting engineer Bill Duffield fell 20ft to his death while checking the darkened venue after the show. The singer contemplated cancelling the tour.
• The Jackson 5, February 25, 1979, Poole Arts Centre. The man destined to become the world’s biggest pop star, Michael Jackson, played a gig with his siblings. Stage doorman Tony Burns told the Echo about the “polite and friendly” young singer who asked to use the phone and shared a cup of coffee and a chat.
• The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash, Bournemouth Village Bowl, December 7, 1976 – CANCELLED. It might have been one of the town’s biggest gigs but like many other dates on the Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK tour, it was cancelled by the local authority.
• U2, March 9 1983, Poole Arts Centre. They would go on to become one of the biggest live acts in the world but at this point U2 were gigging around the provinces to support their album War. The hit Sunday Bloody Sunday was released two days after the Poole concert.
• The Smiths, March 6 1985, Poole Arts Centre. When The Meat Is Murder tour came to Poole, lead singer Morrissey introduced the song Shakespeare’s Sister, saying sarcastically: “This is our new single... which I’m sure will blaze up the pop charts.” Online reader Court Side said: “Years later I went to get tickets for their tribute act The Smyths from Mr Kyps and while chatting to the guy at the venue, I mentioned how I’d seen The Smiths years before. This young lad behind looked at me open-mouthed and said ‘You’ve seen The Smiths? Live?’ I felt quite proud, if a little old!”

• Take That, November 8-10, 1993, BIC. The biggest boy band of their day attracted the kind of hysteria not seen since the Beatles. An audience of 4,000 screamed their way through the three concerts, with scores pulled from the crowds and one girl taken to hospital.
• Blur/Oasis, September-October 1995, Showbar/BIC. The two leading names in Britpop had released rival singles on the same day (Blur’s Country House beating Oasis’s Roll With It to number one) and were both due in Bournemouth on September 18. Blur were booked for the Showbar, while Oasis were due to appear at the BIC. In the event, the Oasis gig was postponed until October 5.

Oasis also played Poole’s Lighthouse on June 23, 2004, producing a record sell-out for the venue and attracting famous faces including Ringo Starr – who was there to watch son Zak Starkey debut as the band’s drummer – Jude Law, Sienna Miller and Paul Weller.

• Bon Jovi, August 11, 1997, Kings Park, Bournemouth. The New Jersey rocker played this surprising venue as part of the Radio 1 Roadshow, along with Super Furry Animals and Chumbawamba.
• Bob Dylan, October 1-2, 1997, BIC. The iconic singer-songwriter’s first gigs in the town were hailed as a return to form by reviewers. His Never Ending Tour was back at the BIC on May 5, 2002, June 28, 2006 and October 14, 2011.
• Brian Wilson, March 1, 2004, Pavilion. Beach Boys legend Wilson became the first £50 a ticket show in Bournemouth. His set featured 41 songs.

• Paul Simon, November 6, 2006. The veteran singer-songwriter smiled his way through a memorable concert. He even told the audience that he had gone looking for a venue he had played “when I was here as a kid” but found it was no longer there. Reader Billy Bumble, commenting online, said it was: “the best concert I have ever seen”. Throat problems forced Simon to cancel another BIC concert shortly before the performance in June 2011.

• Elton John, July 1 2006, Fitness First Stadium, Dean Court. The Rocket Man cheered up a crowd who had just watched a big screen showing England’s exit from the World Cup following a penalty shootout against Portugal.

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, performed at dusk, was a highlight.

Elton had previously appeared at the Winter Gardens on March 26, 1972, March 17, 1973 and December 3-4, 1982, as well as two seasonal concerts at the recently opened BIC on December 30-31, 1985.

Let us know how many of these concerts you have attended in the comments below.